SANTO DOMINGO.- Last September, 478,794 tourists entered the Dominican Republic by air, representing 48% more than the same month in 2019, 31% more than in 2021 and 11% more than in 2022, according to the report presented yesterday by the Ministry of Tourism.
David Collado, minister of that official agency, stated yesterday Thursday that tourism maintains an "unstoppable growth", registering the arrival of 545,990 visitors, thus reaching the figure of 7,625,986 in the January-September period.
“These are historic numbers, which are felt in the economy, and the best thing about it is that this growth is unstoppable,” Collado said while presenting the statistics report for the month of September, during an event held at the El Embajador hotel.
He explained that this sustainable growth is also reflected in the cruise industry, noting that in the ninth month, the country received 67,196 cruise passengers, bringing the total to 1,602,411 for the period.
“If we look at those figures, we are talking about the Dominican Republic receiving no less than 7,625,986 in the January-September period, a true record,” Collado said.
He pointed out that the projections for tourist arrivals by the end of the year will exceed 7.9 million, which would be a new record, and reiterated that by the end of 2023 the Dominican Republic will surpass the goal of 10 million tourists.
Growth
The total of 7,625,986 visitors from January to September represents a 24% increase compared to the same period in 2022, when 6,136,567 foreign tourists arrived. The year-over-year difference is 1,489,419 visitors.
The Dominican Republic is on the verge of reaching its goal of 10 million visitors over the past 12 months, according to economist Jacqueline Mora, Vice Minister of Tourism. "To date, considering the last 12 months, we have 9,964,009 visitors to the Dominican Republic, very close to our target," the official stated.
The number of visitors arriving by air was 478,794 in 2023, up from 430,135 in September 2022, representing an 11% increase. Cruise ship passengers arriving by sea numbered 67,196, surpassing the 50,518 recorded in 2022. The sum of these two figures represents the total number of tourists.
